St. Peter School adds Chromebooks in the classroom

St. Peter School student Rheanna shows her mom how she has been using Google docs and a chromebook in her classes Tuesday night. The school held a technology night to show parents how they are utilizing chromebooks, which the school just bought about a month ago.
St. Peter School student Rheanna shows her mom how she has been using Google docs and a chromebook in her classes Tuesday night. The school held a technology night to show parents how they are utilizing chromebooks, which the school just bought about a month ago.

St. Peter School student Rheanna eagerly showed her mother her reading journal and class drawings on a chromebook at school Tuesday night. About a month ago, the school put chromebooks in the hands of each third through eighth grader.

St. Peter School held a technology night for students and their parents Tuesday. Teacher Erin Whalen introduced parents to the chromebooks. Then, students showed their parents how they have been using the new devices in class.

Students utilize Goolge docs, spreadsheets, drawings and other apps on the chromebooks. Whalen showed parents the classroom app they have been using that allows teachers to send out assignments to their classes. Students can complete the assignment and turn it back in all on the app - and all paperless.

Aside from the paperless benefit of the chromebooks, Principal Teri Arms said students need to learn how to utilize the technology.

"That's one of the big skills today," Arms said. "Being familiar with technology, being able to use technology not as a means unto itself, but to assist in the educational process I think is very important. We want to prepare them for what they are going to do when they leave here."

Whalen echoed Arms' sentiment. She described technology as a big part of each student's future. She added that students have had no problem learning how to navigate the chromebooks.

"They have just taken off," Whalen said. "They aren't afraid to just dive in and figure it out."

In her class, students keep a reading journal on the chromebook and use it to do research online. Arms said another benefit to having the chromebooks in class and utilizing them for research is that teachers can show students how to properly and safely use the Internet for classwork.

Klista Rader, founder of 21 Vision Education Consulting, works with the South Callaway School District on technology integration and teacher training. She describes technology integration as a growing trend in the classroom. Arms said the staff and students have been excited to have the chromebooks in the classroom.

"It's nice to have something state of the art and we're not behind the times when we start with them," Arms said.

About a year ago, the school started talking about adding more technology to the classroom. They researched chromebooks, iPads and laptops to determine what would best fit their needs. St. Peter School spent the past year setting aside grant money and donations to save up for the chromebooks.

The school also upgraded its Internet service in the building and fixed bandwidth issues the school had been having. Once their infrastructure was ready and the money had been set aside, Arms said the school purchased enough chromebooks for each third through eighth grader to have one during class time.

Whalen said she appreciates the 1:1 chromebooks to student ratio. She said it has made planning lessons that utilize the chromebooks easier because she knows they are always available.

The chromebooks stay at school at the end of the day. Arms said they are considering letting students take them home to use for homework in the future.